The purpose of the UBSUP (Up-scaling Basic Sanitation for the Urban Poor) programme of the Water Services Trust Fund is: To improve the living conditions of the urban poor by offering access to sustainable sanitation of 600,000 to 1,000,000 residents in low income urban areas in Kenya enabling these residents to use sound hygiene practices.

The UBSUP programme will reach between 10% and 20% of the total population in Kenyan urban low income areas. It will improve the difficult living conditions of the urban poor which are even more challenging than those of the rural poor due to higher security risks, deplorable sanitation facilities, doubled mortality rate of children under five, etc. In addition, the project will help to break the poverty cycle by reversing the steady increase in the number of underserved poor which grew tremendously during the last 20 years. Though the Kenyan water sector reforms have contributed to reversing this trend in access to water the sector, however, has not yet managed to replicate this for sanitation.

The implementation of the UBSUP Programme is supported, financially and technically, by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German Development Bank (KfW) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).